Wednesday, February 12, 2014

“ROSEMEAD, Calif. June 7, 2013 Southern California Edison
(SCE) has decided to permanently retire Units 2 and 3 of its San Onofre Nuclear
Generating Station (SONGS).”

It was a great day for many individuals and groups who had
come together to work for the greater good and safety of their
communities. From LA to SD and points in
between, and in fact across the nation. At times it was more than interesting to watch
so many different individual opinions and ideas and methods coalesce to work
together. The Angeles chapter Sierra
Club, Peace Resource Center of SD, San Onofre Safety, Decommission San Onofre, San
Clemente Green and ROSE, these working groups & individuals became known as
the “Coalition to Decommison San Onofre”. It was like the universe itself had appointed
this time and place for these people and groups to come together and develop a
vortex of energy for the purpose of speaking truth to power about the extreme
dangers sitting on the California coastline at San Onofre known as San Onofre
Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS). Please believe me when I say it was not any
one individual or one single group that did this alone. It was in fact everyone
who informed themselves on the issues, worked, organized, prayed, donated time
and money and showed up to speak at meetings all around Southern California. I
am sure these coalition members and individuals are committed to staying strong
and working for the continued good of the community. It seemed
this time and place was appointed by something beyond ourselves.

While I was hoping to take some time off to see the
grandkids, finish some art pieces, and maybe take care of my health, California
Edison called saying we would like someone from the anti-nuclear perspective to
sit on their new Community Engagement Panel (CEP) for the decommissioning of
SONGS, and would I as founder of ROSE do it? I had hoped as we all did that
others from our highly energized coalition would be represented on the new
CEP. At first I reluctantly said yes.
But after thinking about it I can only hope that the universe has made a new
appointment for us to help develop a new vortex of energy with the new CEP for
the safe, sane and economical decommissioning of units 2 and 3 and the safest
storage and removal in time of the extremely dangerous toxic nuclear waste sitting
near our homes, and finally to restore the land to the pristine conditions for
the future generations of Californians to come.

Residents
Organized for a Safe Environment (ROSE) Response and Pledge to SCE’s statement
of core principles and values for the decommissioning of San Onofre.

ROSE is
pleased to see the SCE “Statement of core principles and values for the
decommissioning of San Onofre” and is happy to sit on the Community Engagement
Panel (CEP) with other community members. ROSE pledges to Southern
California residents & SCE to help Southern California Edison keep
these principles and core values alive every step along the way during this
process. ROSE pledges to help SCE become a model for the nuclear industry in
safe and sane decommissioning of our nation’s dangerous and aging nuclear
fleet. ROSE pledges to stand for cleaning the SONGS site of radiation to the
best degree possible in the most economical way for the ratepayers. ROSE
pledges to stand for worker safety in all areas of decommissioning of San
Onofre. ROSE pledges to help SCE understand and use best practices in the
process even if we have to rethink them. ROSE pledges to stand for the removal
of all radioactive materials from the site as soon as it is possible and
restore this site to its natural condition.

It is clear
that DOE and NRC studies pertaining to the storage of San Onofre’s High Burnup
fuel have not been completed at this point in time, and the best practice for
dealing with this extremely high radioactive fuel and the timeframe for doing
so is unclear and has no consensus in the community and scientists working on
this problem.

I hope other
members of the newly appointed CEP will join me in this Pledge to the future of
all Californians and the many generations to come.